Nothing beats the romance of flowers but the price at this time of year – with Mother’s Day and Valentine’s sending demand and prices sky high – can bring a tear to the eye.

It’s funny though, you don’t actually have to look very far for stunning cut flower alternatives in a pot.

Hellebores, misleadingly named the Christmas Rose, come in a range of colours and flower types (long stamens, short stamens) to suit every taste, filling the pot with nodding heads that look almost unreal.

Every single variety has it’s own look like a finger print.  And the plants versatility in the garden, with it’s tolerance of shade and long flowering period, make the Hellebore a great, meaningful gift of a plant.

If you are planning to gift a Hellebore to someone special this Spring, there really isn’t much to tell them but to stand the pot in water before planting as usual and naturalise in the flower bed, under a tree even, with a handful of feed mixed with a good compost lining the planting hole.  Then let nature do it’s work to make it clump up.  Just  remove spent flower stalks as they go over.  The leaves remain in an evergreen clump.  Keep an eye out for slugs and snails though!

And if that hasn’t convinced you, the blooms last far longer than any cut flower you buy at this time of year.  Surely that’s another bonus!